Through the Fire
by Xx.White.Stripes.xX
Summary: A wealthy kid is orphaned in a fire. He is taken in by his savior. They both hate each other. On top of that, the two of them find themselves in an all out civil-mob war. Could things get any worse?


**I'M BACK!! FINALLY! I went on hiatus for such a long time because of a competition to get 50,000 words in a month. It took up all my free time and I needed a little bit of time for mental recovery, but I'm back!**

**I would like to give this story to four4six6eight8 as a Christmas present! Since I have no money and no idea what to give her, why not a story? So, without further ado:**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Bleach in any way. Damn.**

**Rating- M for swearing and violence later in the story, and just to be on the safe side.**

**Paring- Grimmjow & Ulquiorra, and some others**

**This is an AU and I am very aware that there is OOC-ness. Some(most) of these characters I am not all that familiar with or intended them to be OOC.**

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_"Nothing happens by chance, my friend... No such thing as luck. A meaning behind every little thing, and such a meaning behind this. Part for you, part for me, may not see it all real clear right now, but we will, before long." -Richard Bach_

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Chapter 1 - Lucky You, Lucky Me

"Hey you! Lazy-ass shit heads! Get off your asses and get moving! We got another one!" Chief Barragan yelled through the ceiling to the numskulls that worked for him. It was a shock that they were even alive, much less functioning. He would give them that.

The Chief glared at the ceiling as he listen to his men, and woman, scuffle around and fight over who went down first. It was all rather amusing, to say the least. He could make out muffled curses, several punches, and then a sliding noise as they finally slid down the poles.

***~~~***

"Father, I will be taking a shower," I said, having no intention to not take one either way, but I also had no intention to take a cold shower. So, I had to tell him, or he might forget, or simply not know, and run the hot water elsewhere, causing the shower to run frigid.

"Yes, yes, go on now Ulquiorra," my father waved, not even looking up from his paper work. He was a very successful business man, and as he had said many times, 'I pay the bills, so I am god of this house.' It made perfect sense to me. He kept me alive, and I followed his orders. No questions asked.

He must have been working on a very important case; he was normally much more composed than this.

I took my leave and headed for my grand bathroom. It was on the third floor, and quite frankly, the only place I could relax in my father's mansion. Most little kids dreamed of mansions and royal fountains with never ending lawns. I had never dreamed of such things, I did not have to. I lived the dream that every youngster wanted, yet, I somehow did not like it.

It was too big, and I always got the feeling that I was being watched. With Gin in the house more than usual, that somehow seemed plausible. There was never a time when I did not wish that I was normal, just like everybody else. To have every one treat me different just because of how much money I had. It made me sick. To be looked down on, to be separated out, and to get privileges that I did not earn? That was not how things should work.

I turned on the faucet and watched as the hot water began to steam. I adjusted the cold and turned on the shower. I normally did not take showers, but today I just felt like taking one. Sliding my clothes off my body and folding them on a bench I stepped into the shower. I hissed when the steaming water hit my body at first. The burn did not last very long, and I proceeded to scrub my hair with shampoo and then rinse it out. I grabbed the bar of soap and washed myself toughly. I had been in the library earlier uncovering old books from the family house. By the time I left the library, I was covered head to toe with an abnormal amount of dust.

Letting the water just run over me, I felt quite all right staying here until the supply of hot water ran out. The oddest thing happened. The water did not get colder, but hotter. Pressure dropping, and water boiling, I stepped out of the shower and dried myself off with a towel before wrapping it around my waist.

The room was filled with steam, and…what was that smell? I looked around and realized it was coming from the next room. That was odd; I always shut the door to my room, as well as the bathrooms just for precaution. Then it hit me. It was smoke. There was smoke coming from my room.

Right after that discovery, the rest came simultaneously. The tile was warm, not shower mist warm, but bordering on hot warm. There were crashing of plates and splintering of wood from below. It sounded like the ocean was below, swirling and killing with beauty to spare. With a small explosion that made the house shiver and grown, I had a bad feeling that my house was on fire.

Survival and all those stupid lectures I had on what to do kicked in. I grabbed towels and dipped them in the molten water before plastering them in between the floor and crack at the bottom of the door. I coughed from the smoke, and I wished I could open the window. It wasn't that I was unable, but that would only fuel the fire.

I sat as far away from the door as was possible and pressed my face to the ground to get the cleanest air possible. I stayed like that for several moments, shifting when the side of my face began to burn, until I heard sirens. I listened for it, the big blast of water that would surely come. Remembering my state of undress, I stood up to get my clothes from the counter, but my head felt heavy and then light and back again. My vision could not focus from the smoke that had entered and was burning my eyes. Deciding that my clothes were out of the question, I just put on a robe instead.

I went to the window, pulled back the curtains, and saw what was happening outside….

~~~***~~~

"Okay shitheads! Listen up and listen good, I'm only going to say this once. There are at least two family members who are residing here. 17 year old Ulquiorra and his father, and we have information that proves that there was one of Aizen's co-workers in here as well. We are going to form a search party, starting with the third and floor and making our way down. Is that clear?" Chief Barragan ordered. Everyone nodded, "Good, Grimmjow, you will head the third floor." Grimmjow bolted for the ladder, "Shawlong and Edrad you take the second. Nakeem, Yylfordt, and Di Roy I want you to help out with putting the fire out." All five of them scurried off to take their assigned duties. "And please, someone for the love of god keep an eye on Grimmjow!"

"Uncle, you shouldn't stress yourself out like that!" Nel chided. "If you keep this up your going to die your from a stress induced heart-attack."

Barragan snorted, "That be better then working with those idiots."

"You should say such things about your employees." She scolded. Nel was Barragan's great niece, and after her parents died, she came to live with him. She could always be found somewhere at the station and rarely left there. It had become a second home for her. She was training to be a nurse, or more specifically an on the field trauma nurse. She said that she needed experience and it was only a matter of time before something came up at the Karakuta Town Fire Station. And with the employees, that was more of a truth than anything.

"Yah, well I don't see you volunteering to keep an eye on him," He grumbled.

"Touché," she narrowed her eyes playfully.

"Grimmjow needs a therapist," he grouched, tired of his all out attitude.

Nel laughed, "Or a sitter,"

Barragan chuckled too, "that he does."

"Oooh, or maybe a leash!" She was all out laughing now.

"Now that I think about it, you could put that head to use. Maybe you should start keeping an eye on the moron," her eyes widened at the thought. No one wanted to put up with him for more than necessary unless it was something illegal. "I'm just messing with you."

Despite all the claims that the Chief fireman was an uncaring grouch, and that still might have been true, he seemed to have a soft spot, although very small, for his great niece. Nelliel Tu Oderschvank, but everyone calls her Nel for short, was always happy. Which in the fire station was a nice thing to have around. She was only 19 and she could most likely take down any man who picked a fight with her and mop the floor with him, but only if any one made her mad. Several times Grimmjow and several others tried to rile her up, but she brought out a camera and took really embarrassing pictures to use as black mail. No one ever tried anything funny with her again.

She glared at him. "That was not funny."

***~~~***

'_Damn him! Sending me on a rookie mission! Che'! The nerve of the guy!' _I stormed up the ladder to the third floor, stopping briefly to swing his arm back once he got to the window on the third floor before shattering it into thousands of sharp splinters.

I climbed in the small window with ease and looked around. I must have broken into the bathroom, but jeez, it was fuckin' huge! It was almost as big as my room and cleaner too. Even through the heavy layer of smoke, I could see the pristine white walls. There were no personal touches anywhere in the large room. No pictures on the wall, no bathmats of odd colors, no paintings, just white, white, and more white.

A small groan on the floor alerted me of someone else's presents in the room. The smoke made it hard to see, but with my protective gear I could make the person out. They had dark hair and a smaller frame, but what caught my attention was the bathrobe. The bathrobe itself wasn't all that special, but it had ridden up on the person's legs and was drooping on their shoulders. Although the petite frame would suggest a woman, I knew from experience to not jump to conclusions.

I also realized that if my boss found out that I let mystery person struggle to get up without helping I would be in deep shit. Sighing, I stepped over the broken glass and pulled the person up.

"Che' come on, we gotta get outta here," I then tried to carry this one; because frankly I don't think they would be able to make it down the ladder.

"Don't touch me," guess I was right not jumping to conclusions; definitely a man. He shoved me away and just glared at me through the swirling smoke. My breath caught. He looked so…so…demonic. The shadows covered most of his face making him dark, but that wasn't the weirdest thing. His crystal clear emerald eyes seemed to glow in the shadows, like a snakes'.

I finally diverted my eyes from his and I took in his appearance. His skin was pale and hair black; an odd contrast that made him look like he stepped out of an old Hollywood movie or an old, dusty photograph. His pristine white robe had been tainted here and there with blood from the cuts and scratches that decorated his arms, legs, and face. Blood was running from his cheek down his face. Glass caught light and reflected it from his hair. Everything that made his image stick in my mind was not what caught my attention. The twin tear marks running down his face, most likely from all the smoke stinging his eyes, is what held my attention. It made him look so fragile and breakable.

"You can barely stand up!" I growled as I snapped out of the trance I was in. He may be a pretty boy, but that didn't stop me from yelling at the arrogant bastard. I didn't like the way he was looking at me, it made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

"I can stand just fine," he said, standing on his own to prove his point.

"You're bleeding and wobbling, I would get fired for _not_ helping you!" I snapped, man, this guy had one hell of an ego.

"I was perfectly fine before you came," He said stiffly, still not breaking eye contact.

"Che', ingrate,"

"Trash,"

"What did you just call me?!"

"I'm sorry; do you have a hearing problem? I called you trash," He replied like it was the simplest answer in the world.

"Why you little fuck-!"

"Grimmjow! What the hell is taking you so long!? Get your ass down immediately! We already found two of the bodies, there is no one else up there!" the chief yelled up to me.

"Fine! I'll be down in a minute!" I yelled right back.

"Damn it Grimmjow! I don't want minutes! I want seconds! The house is about to collapse, and unless you want to die, I suggest you get down from there!" He was angry now. Damn, just my luck.

"Hear that! If you don't let me help you, you're going to die a horrible and painful death. So, drop the ego and just let me help you, understand!?" I hated negotiating with anybody over something so stupid. No, I take that back, I hate negotiation period.

He sighed and closed his eyes. I took that as a 'fine' and picked the little bastard up bridal style. His eyes snapped open at my brashness and his hands twitched towards my uniform, but stopped as he most likely considered if he could trust me to keep from dropping him. Instead, he just crossed his arms and stared at me. I didn't like it. Nope, not one bit.

I climbed out the window careful as to not inflict more damage on to him and stepped on the platform. I gave the Chief a really big grin and thumbs up, and he brought the platform down to the ground a little ways away from the burning house. This kid must have had all the luck in the world. The fire had started most likely on the first floor as far away from the bathroom he was in. It was a miracle that the fire had yet to get there, but he just had all the luck today.

Not even before I reached the ground, the house gave one last groan before collapsing in on itself. Yah, the brat did have luck, I'll give him that.

Not even before I touched the ground Nel was hovering over the Brat, as I call him.

"Oh, so many cuts! No burns…no clothes at that," Nel always had a habit of talking to herself, taking mental notes is what she said. She had on the full fireman suit so she could be allowed to get this close to a burning house to treat patients if need be. "Oh, and what pretty eyes!"

"Nel, cut to the chase will you?" I grumbled.

"Fine, fine, right this way gentlemen," she said as she dragged me over to the ambulance where all her medical garb was.

~~~***~~~

Grimmjow set him down on the edge of the medical vehicle and gave me room before I could take it. I immediately went to work, giving him an air mask of oxygen first before going over all the little cuts. Bandaging here and there, cleaning this and that. Only a few were deep, and most would heal in a week at most. But the odd thing was that there were no burns, no scorches, no nothing. Other then the cuts, the only thing wrong with him was that he inhaled smoke and got some his his eyes.

"What's your name?" I asked softly as a put on a bandage.

"Ulquiorra. And yours woman?" he replied. I almost chuckled at the stiff tone he used. He sounded like an old man or businessman.

"Nelliel Tu Oderschvank," I smiled. I loved my name. It was one thing no one could take from me at any given time, but most people found it a mouthful.

"Nelliel, you have an interesting name,"

"Really? You think so? You don't find it really long and annoying to pronounce?" I was curious what he thought. my name rocked, it is one of the things my parents gave me that I always have, but everyone else thought it was a hassle and just called me Nel.

"Taking away from a name and changing it is like changing who you are. A name is the one thing that represents you. How can there be a limit to how long a name can and can't be?" he just told me some of the nicest words anyone has ever told me. And he did it was without changing his voice infliction. What a strange man.

A moment of silence passed before I spoke again. He seemed to be the quiet type. "Hey, Ulquiorra? Did you fall on broken glass?"

"No, not exactly,"

"Really? What happened?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"I was perfectly fine before _he _came to get me," he dodged the question, but was also giving me hidden information by implication.

"Grimmjow did this to you?!" Shocked, it took me a moment before it finally registered in my brain, "GRIMMJOW!! How could you!?"

"What did I do?!" He yelled back defensively. It had been a long time since I had raised my voice in anger, and I got a pinprick of satisfaction to know that he feared my wrath.

"You know damn well what you did! How could you?! Hurting innocent people?! People who and in danger to begin with!? How low have your standards fallen?!" Okay, maybe I was being a little over-protective of Ulquiorra, but still.

"I do not believe that I mentioned Grimmjow actually being the cause of my injuries," Ulquiorra piped up.

"True, but you never said he wasn't either," I reasoned.

"Hn,"

"Che', is that what this is about?" Grimmjow asked gruffly.

I looked up at Grimmjow, letting some of the strands of hair fall across my face. I had given this look enough times to know how to strike fear into souls. I narrowed my eyes, let all emotion drop out of my face, and glared. Fast as the eye could see, I pinned him to the ambulance by his collar. "Listen hard, and listen good Grimmjow. I don't care what happened, but the fact still remains that he is now homeless. So you're going to kindly offer to let him stay with you."

"No way in hell-"

"You do realize that if my uncle ever got work that you injured a person in dire need of help without any real reason, your job is history," I threatened.

"But I didn't do anything!"

"I don't really care. Who do you think he's going to believe? You? Or his niece?" I reasoned.

"You bitch,"

"Not a bitch; a woman,"

"There's a difference?"

"Touché."

***~~~***

--5 hours later—

"Grimmjow, I'm speechless. You're offering your house for Ulquiorra to stay?" The Chief said.

"Yah, well…don't think too much of it," I said, glaring the whole time at Nel. Damn, and here I thought she bared no resemblance to her uncle. Damn, talk about mood swings. She was happily smiling next to Ulquiorra. It may have been my imagination, but all of her 'happy' seemed to be aimed at me. Damn, forced to volunteer. How the hell did I get myself into this situation?

"Hmm, very well. Nel, how long is it before he can be discharged?" He asked.

"Oh, I would say now. The only thing wrong with him were multiple, but very minor, cuts," she looked directly at me when she said that, but looked away quickly, "he may experience some coughing fits from the smoke he inhaled and might need an oxygen mask to be on the safe side and his eyes will need drops. All those can be administered at home, so I would say he's ready to go right now."

"Good. Grimmjow, you can go home early today. I don't want you to start any fights with him, stress him out, or injure him in any way. The boy looks dead on his feet-"

"He looked like that before," I muttered, but no one heard me.

"-so make sure he gets a good night sleep. That is all." The chief instructed.

I nodded, and grumbled my way over to where the Brat was standing. Before I even said a word, Nel grabbed my arm and dragged me over to where she had arranged for a ride. Since the rest of the crew was still working, I would be hitching a ride in a police car. How ironic.

Nel finally stopped before the car and turned to face me. "You might need these." She said and gave me a bag full of stuff. "Call me if anything comes up." And she left. What a strange creature, the woman is.

I head the door click open and noticed the Brat getting in the front seat. "Oh no. You sit in the back."

"Now why would I do that?" He asked, still using that infuriating tone of his.

"Because I saved your ass and you owe me!" I semi-yelled. I didn't know how far Nel had gotten, but I had no wish to find out just how protective she could be of the Brat.

"Oh, and here I thought you wanted to take a trip down memory lane." He looked back at me, "I'm sitting in the front," and he closed the door.

That shit!

This is just my luck to get stuck with this ex-rich brat. This was going to be a _very_ long night.


End file.
